The Phillies took a big step forward on Friday when they did something almost entirely unexpected: they fired their manager Pete Mackanin. And they did it a full three games before the end of the season.
The Phillies rebuild is ahead of schedule, so they fired their manager
Saturday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the newly manager-less Phillies, Carlos Gonzalez’s last days with the Rockies, and the un-clutchness of Aaron Judge.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
To say this is a surprise would be a huge understatement. The Phillies gave Mackanin an extension through 2018 in May, when they were in the middle of an absolutely dreadful month of baseball. And beyond that, GM Matt Klentak has been vocally supportive of him. But that’s not to say there weren’t problems. The Phillies went into the All-Star break with 29 wins and 58 losses. His bullpen management and unwillingness to play match-ups lost them games. And he kept batting one of the team’s lowest OBP hitters second, which defies explanation. He’d also developed a reputation as a player’s manager, even though there was no particular reason for anyone to think that was true.
But the big question remains: why do this? Why now? The answer is pretty simple. After promoting a number of prospects over the course of the second half of the season, the Phillies didn’t suck anymore. They performed much better than anyone expected (hello, Rhys Hoskins), and showed that many players had a solid foundation that could be built upon next year. The Phillies rebuild was much farther along than even Phillies executive expected, so they decided to move their timetable up. Instead of keeping a manager that they knew they didn’t want handing the next competitive Phillies team, they decided to rip the band aid off and plunge forward into actually building a competitive team.
There are no clues thus far as to who they might be considering to replace Mackanin, who will stay on through Sunday and then move into a front office role in 2018. There’s Triple-A manager Dusty Wathan, who is beloved by many newly promoted Phillies. There’s Brad Ausmus, recently fired by the Tigers. There have even been whispers of Buck Showalter, who is connected to the Phillies through team president Andy MacPhail, a former Orioles executive. And that’s just three guys on a list that contains 15-20 names. Klentak and MacPhail have a big job ahead of them this offseason, but considering what it means for the Phillies’ chances of competing in 2018, something tells me they’re looking forward to it.
- The Cubs eliminated the Cardinals from the postseason on Thursday, but Marc Normandin shows us that the Cubs actually eliminated the Cardinals slowly, over an entire season of games.
- George Springer’s first grade teacher came to visit him on Friday, and she brought more than just good wishes — she brought cookies! Who doesn’t want visitors like that at work?
- Carlos Gonzalez is quite possibly playing his final games with the Colorado Rockies, and Nolan Arenado isn’t taking it well.
- Derek Jeter asked the guy he’s about to fire, Marlins president David Samson, to fire four more Marlins executives, this time in the baseball operations department. Cla22y!
- The Mets and Phillies, two teams that pretty much hate each other, will play in the 2018 Little League Classic. It should be entertaining, though the higher-ups probably hope they don’t get into a brawl in front of the kids.
- Eric Hosmer is a free agent after the 2017 season, but the Royals may be serious about making him a substantial offer — even though they can’t match the cash of larger market teams.
- Apparently Aaron Judge isn’t clutch, but Pinstripe Alley says that doesn’t matter in the least.
- Minor league baseball players are paid a pittance, and even though there are two lawsuits in progress that might help them, there’s really only one solution: organize and form their own version of the MLBPA.
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